Rentrée Littéraire: Literary Prizes shortlists
In last week’s post we tried to explain what the rentrée littéraire was. Now, however, the rentrée has truly begun, and the time for careful presentation has passed. The Goncourt and the Renaudot prize juries have both revealed their shortlists, firing the first shots of this year’s great literary war; others will follow in the next couple of weeks.
This year, publishers have rolled out “only” 650 novels (albeit only 363 French novels, interestingly) to fight for a chance at a literary prize. Although the figure is still quite impressive, it is more reasonable than most of the past years, some of which were nothing short of excessive (about 730 a decade ago!). In terms of the books being lined-up, there aren’t any scandalous or controversial novels, nor any titles outrageously blatant in their courting of a Goncourt. The 2016 rentrée littéraire, on the face of it, should be quite peaceful, diverse, and ultimately enjoyable - to the relief of pundits and publishers alike, no doubt.
Still, for any competition there must be some favourites to win it all, and this year's literary prizes are no exception. Ivan Jablonka’s Laëtitia ou la fin des hommes, for example, has quietly been gathering steam as one critic after another gave it raving reviews. In fact, it has been included in both the Goncourt and the Renaudot shortlists; and it has already won Le Monde’s literary prize! A historian by trade, Jablonka has produced an essay (or novel, as the Goncourt bizarrely describe it) Laëtitia Perrais, an 18 years old girl whose kidnapping and murder in 2011 had shaken French society to its core. Jablonka’s strength lies in his approach: rather than seizing on the cause célèbre to create a sordid story with the aftertaste of a tabloid feature, he methodically examines the murder as a historical event, and Laëtitia’s life as a “social fact”. With a thorough investigative mindset and a masterly narration that is both subtle and potent, Jablonka puts the reader in front of a truth that is too often unacknowledged, that of the constant brutalisation of many women.
Others have also successfully begun their literary campaign, by being shortlisted for both the Goncourt and the Renaudot. The well-regarded Régis Jauffret returns with Carnivore, an epistolary novel in which a young woman writes to his ex’s mother to apologise for breaking up with him, only to end up plotting his destruction with her; it has been described as being “halfway between Les liaisons dangereuses and Silence of the Lambs”. Laurent Mauvigner (Continuer) and Luc Lang (Au commencement du septième jour) are also often mentioned as names deserving of a prize in light of their past successes (think Di Caprio before winning the Academy Award last year). Yasmina Reza, who is mostly famous for her plays, joins the fray with Babylone - a novel that seems to be the official “troublemaker” of this rentrée littéraire for the mixed reactions it has elicited. Brilliantly burlesque, funny and sarcastic, and all-around hugely enjoyable for some; “too obvious”, inconsistent, or narratively underwhelming, sniff the others.
There are also a few dark horses, looking to score an upset against the prize behemoths that are Frédéric Gros (La Succession) or Karine Tuil (L’Insouciance). Simon Liberati, though not shortlisted for the Goncourt, has a shot at the Renaudot with his California Girls, which revisits the murder of Sharon Tate - the kind of falsely clichéd premise which some on the juries detest but critics so far have adored. Some pundits are looking forward to seeing Mauritian-French (sidenote: Le Clézio, Devi are also Mauritian - is Mauritius the future of French literature?) writer Nathacha Appanah win some success with her exploration of the disaffection in the French overseas département of Mayotte. They will also be on the lookout for the young Gaël Faye, whose Petit Pays will be his debut as a novelist, having performed for several years as a rapper and singer-songwriter; he has already won the FNAC’s prix littéraire.
And we haven’t said a word yet about the many other talented writers who have been selected by the juries, as well as the many others that will feature on the others prizes’ shortlists! Such is the beauty of the rentrée littéraire, when it seems like there are must-read books everywhere you look. Prix Goncourt shortlist:
Nathacha Appanah, Tropique de la violence(Gallimard)
Metin Arditi, L’enfant qui mesurait le monde(Grasset)
Magyd Cherfi, Ma part de Gaulois (Actes Sud)
Catherine Cusset, L’autre qu’on adorait(Gallimard)
Jean-Baptiste Del Amo, Règne animal (Gallimard)
Jean-Paul Dubois, La succession (L’Olivier)
Gaël Faye, Petit pays (Grasset)
Frédéric Gros, Possédées (Albin Michel)
Ivan Jablonka, Laëtitia ou la fin des hommes (Seuil) Régis Jauffret, Cannibales (Seuil)
Luc Lang, Au commencement du septième jour (Stock)
Laurent Mauvignier, Continuer (Minuit)
Yasmina Reza, Babylone (Flammarion)
Leila Slimani, Chanson douce (Gallimard)
Romain Slocombe, L'affaire Léon Sadorski (Robert Laffont)
Karine Tuil, L'insouciance (Gallimard)
Prix Renaudot shortlist:
Novels:
Sophie Avon, Le vent se lève (Mercure de France)
Michel Bernard, Deux remords de Claude Monet (La Table Ronde)
François Ceresa, Poupe (Le Rocher)
Lena Hornakova Civade, Giboulées de soleil (Alma)
Adélaïde de Clermont-Tonnerre, Le dernier des nôtres (Grasset)
Catherine Cusset, L'autre qu'on adorait (Gallimard)
Lionel Duory, L'absente (Juillard)
Benoît Duteurtre, Livre pour adultes (Gallimard)
Annick Geille, Rien que la mer (La Grande Ourse)
Frédéric Gros, Possédées (Albin Michel)
Stéphane Hoffman, Un enfant plein d'angoisse et très sage (Albin Michel)
Régis Jauffret, Cannibales (Seuil)
Jean Le Gall, Les lois de l'apogée (Robert Laffont)
Pierre-Yves Leprince , L'Odyssée de Rosario (Gallimard)
Simon Liberati, California Girls (Grasset)
Yasmina Reza, Babylone (Flammarion)
Leila Slimani, Chanson douce (Gallimard)
Laurence Tardieu, A la fin le silence (Seuil)
Essays:
Françoise Cloarec, L'indolente (Stock)
Ivan Jablonka, Laëtitia ou la fin des hommes (Seuil)
Marie-Dominique Lelièvre, Sans oublier d'être heureux (Stock)
Dominique Missika, Thérèse, le grand amour caché de Léon Blum (Alma)
Jean-Claude Perrier, André Malraux et la reine de Saba (Cerf)
François-Olivier Rousseau, Devenir Christian Dior (Allary)
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